07 December 2015 / by Noel
A ferguson / in Leadership, Management, Career

Does your Boss give you the finger of blame instead of a hand on
the back?

Everyone makes mistakes. A person who never made a mistake, never
made anything. That is not to say that you can make mistakes all the
time without redress, but there will be a time when you make a
mistake. There is nothing wrong with that. We all need to 'Take it on
the chin' when it is our place to do so. However, the manner in which
your mistakes are pointed out to you should be done in a tactful
manner by your Boss.

What your Boss should not do is call you out in public. Do you
feel as though you are publically flogged when things go wrong, strung
up in front of your colleagues? A good Boss will know that public
embarrassment is not the way to deal with your mistakes.

The right way to give feedback

Your Boss should take you to the side in private and quietly
explore the mistake, giving you a hand on the back to support and
say,

We all need to 'Take it on the chin' when it is our
place to do so. However, the manner in which your mistakes are
pointed out to you should be done in a tactful manner by your
Boss.

"Look, it is ok. We all make mistakes. Let's see what we can do to
understand why this mistake happened, what we can learn from it and
what can we do differently in future". Note the use of the word 'We'
and not 'you'.

So which do you experience from your Boss? Do they give you the hand
or the finger?

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My recent blog articles contain pertinent information for anyone with a
managerial role, written from the angle of helping subordinates cope with
a difficult manager. They can also be found on my
KeepTheBossFireTheBoss.com website.